The great philosopher Garth Brooks once sang a song with the line: “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” While theologically, that may not be sound doctrine, there is a hint of truth. I would modify it “God did answer my prayer; just not the way I prayed it” Have you ever experienced that too?
This week we had a fantastic team join us from Fairfield Baptist Church in Cypress, Tx. And together, we had been praying for over three months for VBS at our church, Rangerville Baptist Church. To add context, we are a 98-year-old church that had been without a Pastor for 2 1/2 years and then COVID. So we had lost a lot of families and children during that time. We currently have no young families with children younger than their teens. So, we prayed that VBS would be a great way for God to be made known to our community and draw kids ages 5-12 to hear about Jesus. It was a good prayer; we wanted to see God move in our community and our church body. We prayed that God would provide for the kids. We did all the prep work and advertising to let the community know the dates, times, activities, etc…
The day came; we got to the church early and made the necessary arrangements for the kids to arrive. Excitement was in the air; the team was prepared and ready, our folks were ready, and… NO ONE showed up for VBS. Not one child. My heart sank, the team was disappointed, and our folks were undoubtedly disappointed. BUT God… Oh, but God!
Almost immediately, things began to transition. We quickly gathered as a leadership team and reorganized to be at a local park on Friday & Saturday mornings. We sent teams out to canvas the surrounding neighborhoods again and evangelize. We still didn’t know what to expect. In over 15 years of ministry, I have never experienced such a negative outcome to a planned event – zero people, nada.
On Friday morning, we arrived at Rangerville Park just down from our church, and God showed us His plan. Over 60 plus kids showed up to hear about Jesus. Another 30 plus kids on Saturday. And there were at least 8 professions of faith from the Rangerville area. God was just amazing. He allowed more door-to-door gospel presentations than we had ever planned. It was amazing to see how God’s plans were bigger than our plans, and He was faithful to us.
In Acts 16, the Apostle Paul wanted to go west into Asia to Ephesus, but he was prevented from doing so by the Spirit of Jesus. We are not sure what the hindrances were, but they were accomplished. God sent Paul into Macedonia instead of the planned trip. God intended for people in both Ephesus and Bithynia to hear the gospel at a later time. Paul was obedient and let his plan go by the wayside. And the gospel was shared and God was greatly glorified.
How often do we hold tight to something and miss the bigger picture God has planned for us? Had we stayed committed to VBS, we would have missed the beautiful blessing of Party in the Park. God is always faithful. Praise God that He changed our plans for His glory. We must continue to pray but stay flexible and pray for God’s will to be done. Afterall, we are building His Kingdom, not ours!
BTW: 83 people prayed with – 79 gospel presentations – 17 professions of faith – 2 Bible given away